This invention was the subject matter of Document Disclosure Program Registration No. 185,377 which was filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Feb. 1, 1988.
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. No's: 3,088,735; 4,134,585; 2,174,884; and, 2,711,899 the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse rebound/backstop devices for ping pong tables wherein a player can practice returning serves.
While all of the aforementioned devices are more than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which they have been specifically designed, these prior art constructions are also deficient in a number of salient respects.
To begin with, virtually all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are either deployed at a fixed angle relative to the top of the ping pong table or otherwise physically attached to a portion of the table surface.
In addition, most of the prior art constructions will only provide a single primary backstop surface for one or more players to practice rebounds, which effectively limits the usable playing surface available for practice.
Furthermore, none of the prior art constructions envision an arrangement wherein two or more players can propel balls either directly at one another towards an intervening backstop surface; or in the alternative allow two or more players to propel ping pong balls in a direction of flight that is perpendicular to one another and which employs two independent backstop surfaces that are disposed generally perpendicular to one another with the added capability of being oriented in different vertical, horizontal, and transverse planes relative to one another.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation there has existed a longstanding need among ping pong afficionandos for a backstop practice device that possesses all of the aforementioned improved characteristics of the present invention.